An Agent and an Assassin
by hermione-amelia-rose1479
Summary: Side-fic to In Which Fury Chooses Stark's PA's. With all hell breaking loose (no puns or references intended) and many secret agencies falling, it's up to an Empath trying out her powers for the first time and an Asassin with breathtaking existential crises to accomplish the impossible. It could only get worse when said pair are stuck road-tripping in of all places... Australia.
1. Part 1

A/N: A very big welcome to any new readers and to all my old friends. So this fanfiction is a side-fic which was requested by She-WolfMoon who'd like to see a story involving Mary and Bucky, then my winter holidays came about and I went travelling a fair bit, and it came to me; why the hell not. So behold, road-tripping hilarity and just a dose of feels. Take your feelings and run. Do it. I'll promise it'll be worth it. Also, might help a little if you have read my previous fanfiction: In Which Fury Chooses Stark's PA's, just so you get the context of this plot and these characters.

Disclaimer: I'm usually not so formal with these, but seeing as it is the first chapter... I don't own nor profit from this fanfiction, everything belongs to Stan Lee, Marvel and their respective distributors.

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><p>An Agent and an Assassin<p>

Part 1: Mr and Mrs Barnes* (*terms and conditions apply)

"You got any idea on why we're getting called in?" Bucky asked her, holding the lift open politely, as he spotted her trying to catch the lift he was currently occupying on his own, Mary acknowledged it with a smile and a nod.

"Not at all, probably more work. They seem to like putting us on the same mission; makes things more effective from their perspective… did that rhyme?"

"I think it did."

"It wasn't mean to. _Now_ it sounds tacky." Mary shrugged that sensation off, gesturing for Bucky to exit the lift first.

"Ladies first." Bucky held his arm out.

"Pensioners first." Mary bantered back, making him sigh with exasperation. Laughing, she agreed to go first, waiting for him to mope his way out of the lift, eyeing his rather fetching blue shirt.

"I'm an _assassin_!" Bucky moaned, causing her to laugh further. "I've _killed_ people."

"Sure you did, Buck." Mary playfully punched his metal arm, causing him to continue rolling his eyes. "Seriously though, why the _hell_ am I being dragged out of my Doctor Who marathon?"

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><p>"OH <em>FUCK<em> NO!" Mary screamed at Emma from the opposite side of the table, Emma was reminded _once again_ that Bucky _was_ a trained assassin and he was _seriously_ holding back the temptation of killing her. Emma eyed Natasha, who nodded, pacifying everyone with her patented 'Soviet-death-glare-of-doom'. Coulson and Clint both shrugged.

"You _are_ being serious… right?" Bucky asked quietly, his knuckles growing whiter by the moment as he gripped the table tightly.

"Let me repeat this, again, before Natasha and I both remind you that between us we have killed 60 people-"Emma started.

"And this was before both of us were 24." Natasha raised a brow, daring them to challenge her. Both Bucky and Mary calmed down considerably. Natasha nodded for Emma to begin.

"As you know, with the infinity gauntlet, shit went down, correct?" Emma asked "Now, we're all going to be gone for a bit, so it's imperative we get this going. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, not that you have much choice, is to go undercover in Australia to help _that_ branch of SHIELD intelligence."

"Yeah, alright, we understand _that_." Mary snapped, Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yes, and we want you two to do it pretending to be married." Emma ended. "Logically speaking, it's the only option you two have without drawing any suspicion, two young adults, road-tripping, in a camper-van, not staying anywhere, you _need_ this."

"Question, why us?"

"Because fuck you, that's why." Clint retorted. "Seriously, you two are two, young people, undeniably attractive- don't scoff at me Reyes, your selfies are amazing- ,road-tripping and _everyone's_ going to be talking about you seeing as you're chilling in a _lot_ of small towns. _Yes_ , you guys are wearing rings. The sharing the bed thing is _totally_ up to you two, though, you know, sleepover style."

"Seriously, I am going to _stab_ you in the face, Agent Barton." Mary muttered under her breath. Emma had to hold back a laugh at how adorable her agent looked whenever she was pissed, but while it was adorable, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of her right-hook.

"Nah?" Bucky asked her. That 'nah', Emma guessed meant 'sharing a bed and looking cute together'.

"Nah." Mary agreed, hi-fiving him. "Ow, you _really_ need to work on calming down that hi-five with your left arm. "Just _why_ are _we_ the ones being sent? I mean, there are plenty of SHIELD operatives with loads more training then I have, and Bucky's still probably adjusting to the invention of wi-fi or whatever. Are we _really_ the best choice?"

"Okay, I'm stepping in for this one." Coulson cleared his throat, the authoritative aura he was currently emitting was enough to make even Emma swivel slightly in her chair and look at him. "We've analysed your work, and given the fact that Barnes is an assassin and Reyes is developing her empath skills, we thought it be logical that you two be placed this mission. We can trust you two while we're gone."

"But he was Hydra." Mary pointed at Bucky inconveniently.

"Dozens of people, dead." Bucky supplied, nodding enthusiastically at Mary's argument. "_Not_ the best people to put on a mission. She's going through an existential crisis." Mary also nodded fervently. Emma quietly pulled an envelope out of her purse, emptying the contents of two heavy golden rings, and sliding it to the two of them. Mary reluctantly picked up the ring, probably mouthing something about being 500% done with SHIELD's shit to Bucky.

"We've read enough fanfiction to know how this goes, right?" Clint whispered to her.

"It's _not_ going to happen. Seriously, these two would probably just laugh their way through it." Emma nodded at Mary and Bucky, who were now being overly-dramatic and sarcastic.

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><p>"Holy <em>shit<em>, how much did you pack?" Mary asked Bucky, as they stood awkwardly at the airport, waiting in queue to pass through the metal-detector-things, Mary with one large suitcase and a smaller one housing things that couldn't be tetris-ed into her other one, and Bucky with two _ridiculously_ large suitcases.

"Not everyone has your packing skill, Reyes." Bucky retorted. "Am I going to have to remove my arm?"

"I dare you." Mary smirked, as Bucky started to walk through, true to everyone's guess, the alarm _was_ set off and Bucky happily detached his arm.

"I don't have any prosthetic limbs in case you're wondering." Mary promptly informed the bemused airport official, walking through without hitch. "Have we got our backstory planned?"

"We need a backstory?" Bucky politely lifted her luggage onto the carousel for her, as they moved, trying to navigate their way through Terminal 7 of JFK airport. "Where did we meet?"

"I don't lie, I withhold the entire truth and maybe add a couple of things. So, maybe at a charity ball?"

"We're meant to be young and hip, what do you people even do these days?"

"What? You want me to say we met because we were grinding against each other at some grimy nightclub, intoxicated on a couple of cocktails or some shit?"

"Okay, so maybe not _that_, at work?"

"No, a coffee shop, if this is going to be like a fanfiction, then we met at a coffee shop where you were working as a barista, for fun, to escape all the _pressures_ of being rich and all that –hey, if you're not picking up the sarcasm, I don't know what you're doing. I ordered a caramel latte and a slice of chocolate mud-cake; you slid me your number." Bucky shrugged, Mary could sense he didn't mind it.

"Okay, at the wedding, which was at a church… somewhere… why are you even _in_ America?"

"Well… -hang on, let's queue here- I was sent to study at Harvard. Yeah _totally_, go big or go home, for Medical Science, and I took a teaching unit. You bought me a bouquet of red roses to our first date, which was at a science expo, and you've written a poem for every date we've gone on, you met my parents when they visited and you accidentally spilled coffee on dad. You _totes_ proposed to me in front of my entire… ooh what do I want to teach? You proposed to me while I was teaching somewhere, yeah, because I'm that fabulous." Bucky snorted, as the line slowly inched forwards "At the wedding our theme was red, you wore a red tie and I had bouquet of roses, Captain Rogers was your best man, but for fuck's sake, let's just call him Steve and he made you crying during his speech-"

"Wait, why am I crying?"

"Shush, our fake wedding was perfect and Dr Banner _so_ caught the bouquet. Anyway, seeing as you're set to inherit daddy's anti-virus software company; SHIELD, you've decided to entreat me, your beautiful, genius wife to a lovely honeymoon, thank you for that, _daaaahhhling._"

"You are probably the weirdest person I have ever met." Bucky pointed a metal finger at her amusingly, she smiled and continued to pull her suitcases behind her. Mary ordered on his behalf, then after patiently waiting, taking their food and finding seats. "This is a great burger."

"Had better." Mary shrugged, counting off places mentally where she could take Bucky once they got to Sydney. "You good with gourmet hotdogs? I know a place that does _great_ gourmet hotdogs."

"I don't know, I'm still getting my head around gourmet pizzas and Thai Food. Thai food's great."

"Been to a sushi bar yet? I know several good sushi bars." Mary started rattling off about all her previous foodie experiences, describing them at great lengths to ensure nothing was left out.

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><p>"I <em>hate<em> this." Bucky remarked, Mary smiled as politely as she could, trying to show him some other shows programmed to the TV, while a baby cried loudly behind them, while holding back the urge to break the plane's window and through herself out to escape the crying, she wouldn't mind it if the mother at least _tried_ to calm the child. "I thought I escaped this every time I leave Avengers Towers."

"Yeah, it takes getting used to- What about Sherlock?" Mary suggested, as Bucky continued to flick through films and TV shows. "C'mon, _one_ episode of Sherlock."

"No, wait, are they coming with food?" Bucky craned his neck over the seats before him, trying to get a glimpse of an air-stewardess wearing a QANTAS uniform. "Damn, what do I order?"

"Flipping a coin usually works. Still, can't believe they got us decent seats in Business Class, usually SHIELD just puts us all in economy, or we get a private jet, which is _so_ cool-"

"Do you _ever_ stop talking?" Bucky asked with a bit of a laugh, his finger resting on his choice, probably choice, she could sense it, along with his desperate need to go to the bathroom, yet conflicted due to the fact he wanted to get his food and it would be impolite to leave her. How sweet. "No, but have you finished with that?" Bucky pointed to her Bloody Mary, seriously, she _loved_ flying Business Class, probably never would again though. "Also, what is _with _your Instagram username, or whatever it's called."

"You're picking up much quicker that I thought. It was a Eurovision entry, I thought it'd be a great pun. Ooh, what are you thinking of having.."

"Probably the Lamb fillet, what about you?" Bucky answered.

"I think I might go for the Blue Eye fillet, then the ice cream of desert." Mary decided, it really sucked, being an empath on public transport; feelings were always rampant and were easily felt, she could sense the nervousness coming from the wealthy businessman behind her, most likely because he was cheating on his wife, given the _strain_ of nervousness he had. The lady in front of them was incredibly excited because her grandfather had just died, and she was set to inherit his money. Humans were even odder than before, the moment she got a sense into what they were feeling.

"Yeah, she'll be having that-"Mary was shocked to see Bucky ordering her food for her, she had been _way_ too busy with her internal monologue. "Sorry, she's a little excited and occupied. _Sweetheart_, I was just ordering your food; you wanted that Blue Eye fillet, right?" Mary made a mental note to slap herself later.

"Yeah… thanks _darling_. That's my husband for you." She added to the trolley-dolly. She couldn't do this, she couldn't even _pretend_ to be dating her gay friend so his parents wouldn't find out about him, let _alone_ pretend to be married to James motherfucking Buchanan Barnes.

"Isn't she great?" Bucky smiled his dazzling smile through all his lies, the trolley-dolly smiling happily, but it was working, as she could feel her excitement at having such a cute- Cute? Was cute really the word? -couple in front of her. Mary was served her tray, they continued to smile, Mary leaning a little on Bucky's arm, before they both sighed in relief as the attendant continued her way up (or was it down?) the aisle. "I am _so_ sorry."

"Oh _god_." Mary pulled one of her infamous exaggerated face of disgust, causing Bucky to snort a little into his glass of red wine. "You don't mind 'darling', do you?"

"Likewise with 'sweetheart'? I think doll is a bit too much of my time."

"Yeah, just a bit… honestly I don't know what I expected." As she had come to expect, the food was relatively dry, chilli was a bit much.

"Hey, don't complain, back in my day everything was pretty bland." He pointed out, taking her cocktail from her.

"Hey!" Mary protested, Bucky shrugged and reminded her that she hadn't touched it since the start of the flight, except for the odd sip.

"What is it you say? You snooze, you lose?"

"Rude, wow, rude. Very rude, I thought you were meant to be all gentleman-like and polite, where is my bouquet of roses?"

"I think I've fulfilled my quota of flowers for the next 10 years, after your stunt." Bucky bantered back, handing her his ice-cream without a second glance, Mary didn't question it and gladly lifted the lid off the mini-tub of ice-cream to consume it. "You grew up in Australia, right?"

"If the accent's anything to go by." Mary shrugged, really enjoying the velvety smoothness of the caramel ice-cream in her mouth. "I don't know where we'll be going, so sorry, but I'll try to help you out as much as I can."

"You travelled a lot as a kid?"

"Yeah, we did. It was fun, I guess. Commercial airlines are new for you, huh?"

"Yeah, they are, much better than having Howard Stark fly you around, that bastard was a pain in the ass, great pilot, pain in the ass."

"I guess it must be a default Stark Gene." Mary laughed, remembering her torturous weeks as intern. "But I've been digging into SHIELD files whenever I can, so I guess what SHIELD doesn't know won't hurt them."

"You're a bit of a liar, aren't you. You even lied earlier when you said you couldn't."

"It's not really lying, thing I've learnt with lying is that if you add a truth and keep it simple, you'll get away with it, product of being raised by over-protective parents." Mary shrugged, continuing to play with the spoon and flicking through possible films to watch. "You think I'd blow cover if I watched that episode of Ellen when Rogers was on?"

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous, who even deals with their publicity?"

"I think Emma does, Stark basically just tells her things that need to be done-"

"And she just agrees!?"

"No, she argues unreasonably for half an hour, and then does things her way to benefit everyone and point out to Stark that she's the superior being. Also does everything 10 times quicker than the way Tony would've wanted."

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><p>"Mr and Mrs Barnes?" Mary smiled as much as she could, honestly not sure for how much longer she could keep this up for, but it was working, the Customs official was feeling incredibly happy at seeing the two of them look adorable. The flight to Sydney International Airport from JFK was pretty smooth, not as much turbulence as she'd expected and the stop-over in Singapore proved to be fun. Things that Mary had learned over the duration of the trip was to <em>never<em> sit on Bucky Barnes' left side, as that most likely meant if she got hit by that arm by accident, it was going to leave a really bad bruise.

"Yeah, just married." Bucky beamed back to the Customs official, pulling her into his chest and squeezing her in a half-hug, she was honestly going to cry. "Isn't she just _wonderful_." To her relief, the officer was agreeing with him, and they were let through without any further suspicion, or even asking Bucky to remove his arm. If anything, she was incredibly proud of her dressing skills, admiring Bucky in his checked-blazer and sunglasses perched jauntily on his hair. Yeah, ultimate dressing skills. They continued through final checks and a couple of gates before they were free in the perfumed-scented, consumerist heaven that was Duty Free. "What are those?"

"Oh my god, you've never had a TimTam?" Mary exclaimed in surprise, promptly taking a basket and filling it with ever flavour that was on sale. "Okay, where are the minties? My old school uniform looked like these, it sucked." Mary continued her way around the shelves, Bucky trying to keep up with her as he dragged the suitcases behind him. "Yes, yeah we need this too. Have you ever had these?"

"What?" Bucky asked, blinking at her slowly. Mary shrugged, tossing the bag of Fantales into the basket; she was probably going to win all the trivia questions against him, then. "Oh, you should probably keep the receipt; they said they'd pay everything back." Bucky tried adding as she precariously balanced a box of perfume on top, before he practically ushered her to the check out.

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><p>What he would give to feel the joy of being home again. Honestly, it was a feeling he wished the Soviets hadn't wiped out. Mary seemed content with force-feeding him with junk-food and rattling on about her life in this infernal country, he had also noted with some disappointment that the size of food in Australia was so much more than it was back home.<p>

"-And this one time, I went to Ireland and Italy as part of a school trip, and we started singing the school song in the airport, and people were all like 'woah, what the shit is wrong with these girls', so yeah, I guess my time at airports isn't all _that_ bad, they're chill. Oh! And when I was on the flight from Sydney to New York-" Bucky literally pressed a metal finger to her lips, raising a brow.

"Do you_ ever_ shut up?"

"When I feel like it." She shrugged, giving him a mischievous wink and continuing to quietly steal fries from him. "Oh, and I know I'm stealing chips off you, but you don't mind." He _hated_ her ability to sense feelings. "Do you?"

"What are your senses telling you?"

"Yeah, I should now…" she guiltily placed the fry down with a mouthed 'sorry', he shrugged, he didn't mind, really. "So, look, I know I sound _really_ pedantic, but I just want to confirm our back-story."

"Well…" Bucky looked at the girl staring at him, dressed in a white sundress, leather jacket hanging on the chair, her straight hair falling about her shoulders, black contrasting with the white. His own brown eyes met her chocolate doe-eyes, noting with slight amusement the glimmer of anticipation they gave. The best thing about her was that no matter what Hydra did to him, she acted as if she'd known him all her life, and he'd known her all his. As horrible as it sounded. "I guess I _did_ buy you that bouquet of roses on our first date, and your dad never really did get over the whole coffee incident. I proposed to you as you tried to make your way to teach your Kindergarten class, you were a bit flustered and we argued before I screamed a proposal in the heat of the moment, and you quite literally shouted your reply. You teach them because you're still looking for a job at a high-school, preferably teaching young women."

"I guess I could buy that." Mary smiled, leaning back in her chair.

"Oh, before I forget anything. I fell in love with the way you fell asleep, slowly, then all at once." Bucky smirked as the agent's head fell into her hands in her fit of silent laughter, hair flopping around her before flipping it back up, tears pricking the corner of her eyes. No, the best thing about her was that she was a friend. "Okay, so jokes aside, I thought we were going to go to Canberra?"

"Later this week, ASIO has a division that's like SHIELD, so they sent me instructions to chill in Sydney for a bit. Would you like me to tour you around all my old spaces? Fair warning, it's all pretty hipster and underground so I'm not sure how you'd like it, but-"

"Again, the talking thing. It's like you never run out of fuel." Bucky contemplated possible aliases for the two of them. "Can you think of any decent names?"

"What? I hope these aren't baby names… _oh_-" She finally caught his drift "I guess we can keep Mary and James Barnes, I suppose they aren't too bad or too unique, and we'll blend in. You can drive, right? Because I passed with my license, but with the places they're thinking of sending us, that's like hours' worth of driving."

"I'm looking forward to it, so, when are we checking in?"

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><p>"Holy <em>shit<em>…" Bucky quietly whispered to himself, Mary smirked with delight as she faced the grand façade of _The Langham Hotel_, only a short walk away from the waterfront of Circular Quay, and another short walk from Darling Harbour, and literally only a couple of minutes from the Sydney Conservatory. "I didn't know we were staying here…"

"I had a hunch." Mary shrugged. Living in Sydney all her life meant that she knew which hotels were 5-star and which hotels were likely to host her favourite celebrities. She was still slightly disappointed they weren't staying at _Pier One_, which was down the street from Sydney Theatre Company. Walking from street-level into the opulent interior was an experience within itself, she'd only ever been here once for a High-Tea. Checking in required more cutesy-adorable smiling and dropping bits of the incredibly fanfiction-like romance, she had honestly_ no_ idea on how Emma managed to pull this off with Loki… wait, she didn't, they ended up falling for each other anyway. So, mental note to herself, don't do that. Once again, she suffered some slight shock as Bucky pulled out the fake-ass wedding photos, courtesy Tony Stark's holodeck and a Vera Wang gown Emma had tossed her (that chick had couture shoved in every nook and cranny in the building, honestly).

They had been shown to one of the observatory suites, once again smirking with satisfaction as Bucky complained about the price of the suite, no doubt and the fact there was only 1 king-sized four-poster bed, before politely offering to take the sofa. She agreed and said they could roster it or something.

"Have you_ seen_ the bathroom?" Bucky exclaimed, having thrown the heavy wooden door open, leaving her to explore the ornate design of the room, a window facing the Sydney Observatory caught her fancy though. The original wallpaper gleamed as good- as- new, at least tax-payer money went somewhere decent during the 2014 restoration. "Okay, this is probably the best hotel I have ever been to. I take that back the _only_ hotel I've been to."

"You mean you've never ordered room service before? Not even a really stupid 3-am order of ice-cream?" Mary sped around the corner, nearly running into the heavy door of the bedroom, admiring the subtle cream shades draping the windows. Bucky shrugged, sensing that it was a sad no, Mary smiled sympathetically, folding her arms as she walked towards him, observing more expensive paintings hung on the walls. "Anyway, having fun yet?"

"I guess." Bucky said indifferently, sensing his resentment towards her at the moment she backed off wishing she couldn't feel a damn thing, it would've made her life so much easier, she didn't like her life being dictated by how other people felt. It was like being an object being tossed by the turbulent sea, never really resting but in a constant state of movement so as not to disrupt or upset others. Life was easier when she was the normal one, not the mutant. "You okay there?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering what stupid restaurant to take you to dinner." She lied through her teeth.

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><p>AN: I hope that wasn't too long, the tourist fun will definitely start next chapter. Also, I'd absolutely love it if you guys suggested things and constructive criticism is always appreciated. Reviews would be lovely as well :) hopefully I'll get the next chapter up very soon, my holiday starts next week, so you'll probably see some activity both here and on my main fic.

If you can't seem to escape me, my tumblr is consulting-timelord-of-mischief


	2. Part 2

A/N: Hey nerds, so welcome to part 2 of what appears to be longer than the 10 chapters I had planned. Let's hope it's not 50 like IWCFSPA. Anyway, holidays have been great because it means I have plenty of time to do this. Ignore the fact that I have exam block a couple of week into next term. So without further ado, here's the part you've all be waiting for.

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><p>An Agent and An Assassin<p>

Part 2: Barefoot in the Park

Bucky blinked slowly open, sunlight slowly filtering through the gaps between the heavy curtains. The distinguishable lump with a mess of raven-black hair spread over the pillows was most definitely Agent Reyes, glancing quickly at the clock he closed his eyelids, giving the agent time to move out of bed and pull on garments that classified as clothing (their argument the night previously about him sleeping in a pair of boxers and her sleeping in her black bra and shorts. It ended with his supreme embarrassment, needless to say, as she subjected him to the most humiliation a single person could cope with). He could hear the quiet tinkering of fine porcelain and the swirling of a metal teaspoon, just before a tray was placed somewhere near him.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Mary mused, leaning against one of the wooden bed-posts. He counted to 10 before he dared open his eyes. Bucky cursed her ability to have flawless hair at 8:00 am in the morning, wrapped in a silken, powder-blue nightgown. "You tried this tea yet? Try to get the right ratio of tea to whatever else you put in though." She held up the metal chain of the delicate tea-infuser, pointing to the tray she left on the small ottoman stool in front of his chaise lounge. Her sad-ish smile made him think that she felt guilty taking the bed.

"Thanks, I guess." Bucky yawned, trying to brush his hair and look presentable, despite her evidently delighted smirk. "What?"

"You should wear the morning look more often. I'm getting a sexy yet murderous vibe- wait, you radiate that all the time." Her teasing earned her a pillow thrown incredibly hard at her face; she continued to laugh, miraculously not spilling any tea on the floor. "Okay, so not-so-subtle platonic-flirting aside, would you like me to drag you around Sydney? I did this for Emma-"

"Agent Holmes?" Bucky clarified, she nodded. "You took her to Sydney?"

"No, I met her here. I was vaguely normal until I met her, sitting outside a chocolate-store." Bucky shuffled over, gesturing for her to sit down, she smiled, taking the space. "She started talking to me about my scarf- it's from Doctor Who- and I realised I followed her on Tumblr. Anyway, we've got a busy day, I'm gonna try out that Jacuzzi spa later, fair warning."

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><p>"Wow, have <em>not<em> worn this dress in ages." Bucky glanced at her crisp, white tea-dress made of lace, a thin, brown coat worn on top. Sydney weather was okay, he supposed, warmer than New York and definitely less people than he thought. If he had any cause to regret their- if you could call it that- friendship, he hadn't, not even if she'd gotten shot or he'd nearly crashed her car, no, he hadn't any cause to think otherwise until she'd quite literally chosen his clothing for the day and dragged him out of the hotel. He had to admit, the walk to Circular Quay was enjoyable and the views were spectacular once they'd arrived. "Okay, you can do the tourist thing, or whatever, I'm going to just…" She pointed in the direction of a couple of stores, Buck shrugged; he was an adult and didn't require chaperoning.

The thing that surprised him the most was the harmony between nature and the urban sprawl of the city, sandstone cliffs stood side-by-side to towering sky-scrapers and all tied together with the crystal blue of the water as it glittered in the sunlight. He could easily see why anyone would fall in love with a city like this.

"Barnes!" She called waving him over, he followed her as she stood in-front of a building that turned out to be the Museum of Contemporary Art. He walked over slowly, taking in the sights of ferries and the smell of the ocean spray. "I'd take you in, but I have a friend who works here and I'm pretty sure, if her schedule hasn't changed at all. But they do have a passage way which takes us where we want to go."

"And where would that be?" He asked lightly, both of them taking off their coats as it slowly got warmer.

"Hipster-paradise, aka The Rocks. Used to be a slum up until the 70's, home to all the brothels and pubs, sailors chilling here and not to mention the sordid conditions and the gangs."

"Sounds like my childhood."

"Except with a 'White Australia Policy', which includes most Europeans until the end of World War 2." Mary quipped, as she took hold of his metal arm, dragging him through the museum as quickly and discreetly as she could, until they exited glass doors on the other side.

It was as if he'd time-travelled through a building, as he now faced sandstone buildings and found himself on a cobblestone road. She seemed to understand his awe and confusion, offering a smile and a shrug.

"I used to live near here, it was near my uni… ish. Anyway, are you up for brunch?"

"Okay, whatever you want." He followed her through the slightly more quiet area, in comparison to the city streets she'd led him through, until they reached what was probably the main road, overlooking the harbour. He continued to follow her, as she walked at a brisk place, probably because she was so excited to take him to a café.

_La Renaissance Café_ was painted in white against viridian-green wood, above a French-window, multi-coloured macaroons and their labels displayed for all customers to see. She indicated that he go through until he reached a small courtyard, situating himself at a charming table at the back where he was nestled between sandstone buildings with ivy-leaves climbing and winding their way up to a window. She exited moments later, telling him their order.

"Charming place."

"Isn't it just!" She smiled in excitement, her eyes darting to each waiter that exited with other people's orders. In the end she excused herself to go to the bathroom temporarily as the waiter placed down their order, she stayed long enough to take multiple photos on her phone and with her white polaroid camera, letting the photos develop in her coat pocket.

"She your girlfriend?" The waiter asked, bemused.

"Wife." Bucky corrected, the word getting easier and easier to say with each passing moment of their deception, even though he had to sometimes stop himself with uneasily fidgeting with the ring.

"She keeps you on your toes, doesn't she? Excited and bubbly, that one. You watch yourself mate, don't want to see you in the papers after she killed you for breaking her heart."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Bucky laughed, slightly uneasily. Fact remains he'd seen her train and he'd seen her mercilessly shoot someone, it practically amused him to see the dynamic personality of his partner. "There you are, I've been interrogated and warned against breaking your heart by your lovely friend, the waiter."

"He's a cute one." She teased, taking a sip of her coffee. "You enjoying the tart?" He nodded, as the he cut through the melted sugar, the satisfying sound of cracked confectionary reaching his ears. She smiled, daintily eating her macaroons, and while she offered him some, he politely refused. "Oh well, there's night markets here, and I got a message saying they'll pick us up on Saturday. It's Thursday, so we'll have time to go to them."

"Okay, but quick question. Is it just me, or do neither of us know what we're here for."

"I think that's the point." She replied unusually quickly.

"What?"

"I sensed something off with Em- Agent Holmes, she told us it was a multiple manhunt but obviously she was lying. Then there's the fact Johannesburg-"

"Didn't end well." Bucky finished for her, she nodded.

"And not to mention, she felt incredibly nervous and guilty after I saw her finish a conversation with the Director General of ASIO. So, like always, what are SHIELD hiding that even both of us can't know."

"Steve warned me that their intelligence-"

"ASIO'S intelligence game is ridiculous. Less invasive than America's but hella better. You don't even notice the threat is eliminated, and that's terrifying. No, I think they didn't tell us because they don't want ASIO to know the plan, and we won't be able to spill anything." She concluded.

"You really _are_ impressive."

"Thank you darling, I try." She took a sip of her coffee, before placing it down. "There's something on your mind."

"What?" Bucky was pulled out of his thoughts.

"You want to say something, but you don't want to. I'm not a telepath mate, I'm an empath. I'll know you've killed someone, but I won't know who and how." Bucky was a little unnerved by her comment. "Also, nice touch with the shirt-sleeves."

"I just rolled them up."

"Everyone loves a dashing guy with a nice-fitting shirt and the sleeves rolled up. Rule number one of leaving women sexually frustrated." She laughed, because she probably saw the genuine look of terror on his face. "Anyway, my dear communist assassin, where to next?"

They spent the entire day wandering about the alleys and canals of The Rocks, she'd take him into a store, he'd remind her not to buy anything. Or she'd find a lovely alleyway and ask him to take a photograph, as always she'd post them to her fake Instagram and their deception was further planted into other's minds. He sometimes get questions about his arm, the pair of them agreed that it was a childhood accident and that his rich father's bio-engineer friends had him test out a prosthesis, while the design wasn't the best, the technology certainly was. He was almost surprised at how happy and free he felt, walking about, it was as if they weren't on a mission- No, strike that, he was on a mission, they just hadn't started it and they weren't entirely sure what it was, either.

The sun had begun to sink over the horizon and the crystal water now seemed more orange that blue. This time, she took him through different streets, through the back of the rocks, rather than the long way around and near the wharves. She prattled on about securing tickets to the theatre if they had time afterwards, as she told him that the _Sydney Theatre Company_ was only a short distance from the hotel. Time at the hotel was spent more quietly, he turned on the TV to watch the local news and she raided their suitcases for decent clothing to wear out. After advising her on multiple clothing selections, she ended up with a black jumpsuit and a _towering_ pair of heels. Not that he cared, he was just in it for the food.

"You won't mind Bavarian, will you?" She asked as she tossed him a shirt. "There's this great place called _Lowenbrau Keller_. The beers are great if that's all you're in for…"

* * *

><p>"You, you're a dick." Bucky told her, Mary shrugged her shoulders as she handed him a pint.<p>

"For a 1940's gentleman, you sir, are hopeless." She peered over her menu card, raising a brow at Bucky. "You're meant to compliment people, aren't you?"

"Well then, I think your eyeliner is as dark as your soul and sharper than your wit, _sweetheart_." She snorted at the excessive sarcasm and continued to scan the menu, occasionally asking the other's opinion on what they should order. In the end they settled for a large meat platter, she didn't really mind. "Where was that place you were telling me sold only chocolate food?"

"The Guylian Café? It's a chocolate brand but the chocolates are _lovely_. I'll take you there tomorrow if you behave."

"What do you mean _if_? Aren't you obligated to, or something. It's our honeymoon, goddammit, you're not allowed to be irritable."

"Hey, I'm a strong, independent woman that don't need no man, but I would like one." She mumbled under her breath, occupied with her iPhone. "Okay, selfie time."

"What?"

"Commit, goddamit Barnes, I'm trying to keep a cover here. I've been hacking into servers and clouds since we got here just so I could keep this cover legit. It's working, we've got like 300 followers on Instagram." She exhaled angrily, glaring at him through her perfectly-drawn eyeliner, blood-red lips pulled into snarl, he relented, posing happily with her, yet his smile got faker and faker by the second.

"You are aware that I hate you and your existence."

"Flattered _darling_." She smirked, applying a colour filter while he fidgeted, waiting for his food. It arrived soon enough and he was startled that they'd managed to finish the platter off pretty quickly, despite the large amount of ribs and steaks and chips sitting there.

"Do you like _inhale_ food?"

"I don't know, do _you_?" She retorted, sass delivered with a glare as she pushed a stand of hair away from her face with a cherry-red nail. "Besides, what we're here to do is discuss important things, like that, for instance." Bucky glanced in the direction she discreetly pointed to, he noticed a group of people talking together, nothing out of the ordinary.

"What?"

"They're planning on stalking us home. They're agents from ASIO, from what I gather."

"How do you even know all this?"

"Sensing emotions, hearing conversations, lip reading and tipping the waiter extra." Bucky was impressed, no really, he was. He leaned back in his seat, beginning to calculate a safe escape route. "If I'm sensing what you're sensing, please refrain from romance in your escape plan." Bucky raised a brow as she scanned the dessert menu. "You into the idea of Black Forest cake?"

"Yeah…" he replied, still deep in thought, calculating every possible move and every possible situation.

"Don't stress your little brain, Barnes, it's not worth it. It's not like they want to attack us, most likely thing is that they want to just see how we're going?"

"How do you even?..." She waved with her fingers, pointing to the slip of paper between her fingers and the waiter who'd just taken their order and walked away. "Anyway, have you considered taxis?"

"…No…" Bucky couldn't even remember seeing a cab in this godforsaken city. "They're not yellow-"

"Which doesn't mean their overpriced asses don't exist. Safest option and they can't risk following us through this traffic, as empty as it is, it's a Thursday and there's only really late night shopping, people don't really party until tomorrow, in case you haven't noticed." Bucky took this into consideration, watching as she discreetly pulled her phone back out of her purse, opening what looked like an app. "Don't be so nervous, nothing bad, be friendly! Wave at them for all I care." She stated indifferently "I don't know, the ice-cream sounds like a great idea as well."

"We're under surveillance!" he stressed in a harsh whisper, she barely looked up at him, but he caught her bit her lower lip in thought, it was bothered her more than she pretended it didn't. "Okay, we finish desert and leave. Maybe go into a couple of alleyways-"

"You are _asking_ to be killed in a Jack-The-Ripper way."

"They haven't caught him." Bucky scoffed

"They actually have. I have a Professor who worked on it." She corrected icily, obviously she was touchy when it came to her history and trivia.

"_Wow_, snarky today, aren't we?"

"Asking for a knife through their chest today, aren't we?" She glared at him with such an intensity that all retorts fell short, she sighed and looked a bit more sympathetically. "I'm sorry, as much as we'd like to believe, this is all out of control. As soon as dessert comes, I'll let you map out the escape plan, just don't make it to horrible." Several Instagram posts later, they'd finished dessert, he'd insisted on paying for the bill even though she was perfectly fine with paying half, before she reminded him that effectively SHIELD was paying for all of this and that they may as well halve it.

"I'm going to wrap an arm around you, okay?" He whispered as they exited the restaurant, she nodded, but he caught the eye-roll. They were then discreetly followed by another man, they still pretended not to notice, though he could feel her shivering as he held her close against him. He wasn't entirely sure if it was because she was cold or because she was frightened, he did offer her his coat, and while she stubbornly refused, he placed it over her shoulders, watching the man who was tailing them turn off into another street, he knew he'd been caught.

It was very fine until they'd made it to the Observatory Park. They realised that their stalkers had returned with a vengeance.

"They're going to cut us off at all exits, we're going to…" She sighed exasperated before cursing in a language he didn't understand. Well, not a curse, but a stream of cusses.

"Going to have to what?"

"Go through the park. Hold my shoes." He politely held her skyscraper black heels, as they quietly, yet quickly walked through the dimmed park, stopping very so often behind a tree to ensure they weren't being followed. He had to remind her to quieten down every so often, as she complained about grass on her feet. High maintenance that one was. They'd successfully made it past the observatory and past Fort Street before they broke into a sprint, turning into Kent Street and into their hotel.

* * *

><p>"When somebody locks the door, they generally mean, don't open it!" Mary screeched, sinking deeper into the bubbles of the Jacuzzi.<p>

"Hey, it wasn't even locked!"

"Yes it was!" Mary protested, trying very hard to ignore the fact that Bucky had just entered the bathroom shirtless, intending to brush his teeth. "And could you _hear_ this jet stream, I'm surprised if it didn't sound like a rocket taking off."

"I just assumed that was you." Bucky replied sourly, Mary retaliated by throwing a bar of soap at him, the pink block making it's mark and hitting the assassin straight between the eyes, she threw him her dirtiest look and sunk as far as she could in the water without suffocating. "Okay, _what_, did I do? No really." When she gave no answer he gave a sigh and continued to brush his teeth.

"It's nothing" she finally managed, before sinking back below the bubbles, curling up as tight as she could to avoid Bucky seeing anything.

"It's obviously _something_." Bucky turned to face her, while she glared her grumpiest glare at him. "If you don't I swear I'll get into that tub with you."

"I'd hate to see those piglet boxer shorts get wet." Mary retorted, poking her tongue out as he turned around, sighing exasperatedly.

"That's it getting in." Bucky moved threateningly close, brandishing his foamy toothbrush at her, wiping the paste from his mouth on the towel. Mary continued to ignore him, trying to keep her mind blank and finding the instructions next to the button settings apparently fascinating.

"Look, what's the point of being on a mission with you, if I can't even _talk_ to you!?"

"You want to know what _my_ problem is? What makes you think that I'd even tell you?"

"Because you're letting me believe that I'm your friend." Bucky said with such a sting that Mary was a little shocked with herself, staring at the pure betrayal in Bucky's eyes, she nodded before quietly answering.

"The man we ran into, homeless man who sat in the park, while we tried to get back. He knew everything about my sister and didn't tell the authorities, the newspapers published my sister's death publically, the Federal Police made an official statement and everything, they also did on behalf of my parents and myself-"

"I'm sorry, _what_-"

"-Anyway, the man was harbouring guilt because he thought that if he'd told the police instead of taking the hush money, my sister would never have been kidnapped then killed. I could sense the regret from squandering all the money; it must've been a fair sum. Anyway, I don't know if you wanted to know about that or anyway-" Mary stopped mid-sentence then proceeded to immerse herself entirely in the water for as long as she could, doing her best to block out Bucky's lingering feeling of pity that she could sense.

* * *

><p>Bucky awoke early the next day, surprised that his deep sense of guilt over the previous night hadn't woken her up. He was wrong, she must've woken up in the middle of the night, gone on her laptop to try and numb everything. It must've worked as she was asleep, curled up like a cat in the middle of the bed, laptop still on. He silently stalked to her side, prising the laptop away from her and letting it charge on the heavy wooden desk. This time, he tried ordering breakfast, it worked pretty well and an attendant arrived with their tray of food outside their door within a few minutes.<p>

"Busy night, eh?" the worker asked, Bucky was slightly taken aback by the nature of the question, regretting the fact he opened the door with only his boxer shorts and a night-robe on.

"Yeah…"

"Must be great, being newly-weds. Little bit kinky and wild, experimental phase."

"Yeah…" Bucky answered, wishing the conversation was over as quickly as possible, as he did his best to frankly, prise the trays off the worker.

"I bet she's thoroughly spent and satisfied, looking at the size of you. She's a lucky girl, marrying a handsome lad like you." He clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to make him jolt a little. Bucky was easily getting turned off eating with every word, as the worker rambled on, helping assemble the silver tray for tea. "At this rate I'm sure there'll be little babies like yourself wandering around soon. I'm sure she looks lovely in sheers and lace, have you tried corsets? Thigh highs and garters have a very risqué feeling to them. My wife once-"

"Darling? Is that room service? We've got things to get through." Bucky nearly sighed with relief, as Mary called from the bedroom, thankfully out of sight, she was probably trying to not to laugh, as he was interrogated and entreated to this man's sex life. He shuddered as the sentence contained slightly seductive lilt in her tone. He hoped she knew what she was doing, he could almost _hear_ a smirk, visualising a 'come hither' gesture with her finger.

"Ooh, she seems insatiable. Enjoy your breakfast, you know, if you two are going to be hungry anytime soon." The worker left his sight with a wink, wheeling the trolley with a cheery whistle down the corridor. Trying his best not to collapse in sheer embarrassment, she laughed, looking at the sight of him as she reclined, propped up by her elbows, with trembling hands he placed both trays on a small tray rest and sitting beside her on the bed, only to have himself bury his head in his hands and knees.

"You did well." She patted his back sympathetically, trying not to laugh any harder than she already was, wheezing and trying to breathe. "I'm flattered that they'd think we're _totally_ having kinky sex." He was hyper-aware of his red face and ears, especially as she continued to laugh, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "I'm insatiable, am I? I wonder what gave him_ that_ impression, Bucky…" She raised a brow suggestively her tongue just slightly poking out of her cheeky grin before flopping forwards and laughing so hard that it was now silent fits of giggles.

"You just _enjoy_ winding me up, don't you?"

"Call it a sadistic pleasure, if you will." She paused momentarily as she sat back up and picked up her tea-cup, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Though _apparently_ that was what you were giving me last night."

"Shut up." Bucky groaned as she let go of a highly erotic moan, tossing her head back on the pillows, then turning to face him.

"Perhaps I should meet him at the door with you tomorrow, just to keep your fragile masculinity safe."

"My masculinity is _not_ fragile!" Bucky protested, smothering his head with a pillow.

"You are _such_ a man-child." She tutted as he peered out from under the pillow. "Now, are you going to eat or not?"

"I _swear_ if you drop another sexual innuendo, I'm going to-"

"Realise how sexually frustrated you are and in an animalistic fashion pin me down on this bed in a heated and passionate tryst? Did he ask if I had a metal-arm kink? I'm sure you have a couple of things up your sleeve, or down you pants with a history like yours, is the whole bad-boy thing true? Does it _really_ translate well?"

"How do you even know these things, you're 12!"

"And a half." Mary corrected with a shit-eating grin, clearly enjoying his flustered state, playing with her teaspoon in a provocative way. Did empaths get high off people's sense of frustration? If they did, he was going to have a _very_ long conversation with Stark and ask him to invent a gene suppressant. "Seriously though, get out of those clothes-"

"Excuse _me?"_

"Let me finish. Get out of those clothes, get changed, take a shower because _seriously_. We've got a bit of snooping to do."

"I'm never going to be able to look you straight in the eye for _millennia_."

"Good thing we're not actually married then. I guess I'll be getting my revenge on you…"

* * *

><p>Next chapter party time's over (somewhat).<p>

Anyway, I'd like to thank all of you who have read and reviewed. I was very nervous about it and if it met anyone's expectations for this fic. If you haven't sort of guessed, I'm taking chapter titles from films, if you haven't seen Barefoot in the Park, I highly suggest you do. I got some lines from that film that definitely need saying. Also, reviews are definitely lovely. I'm also going to start posting pictures for this fanfiction on my Tumblr, I'll add a link to my profile just to make it a bit easier when I do. But once again, huge thanks to you all :)


	3. Part 3

An Agent and An Assassin

Part 3: Windmills Of Your Mind

"I HATE YOU SOOOOO MUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!" Bucky screamed. Well, she had warned him. There they stood in a metal cage together, before it started to spin rapidly around the central point, before all the cages started to slowly lift. They were now parallel to the ground and spinning ever faster, her stomach dropping and rising every time they were at the top and bottom of this hellish rotation. It was like being on a hamster wheel, except, lying down on the hamster wheel. It didn't help with her sliding towards Bucky every time she lost her grip inside the cage. Well anyway, he was now cursing in Russian, she didn't care, she fucking loved this ride.

"Okay, I know where I'm taking you for dinner then!"

"YOU CAN TALK ABOUT DINNER AT A TIME LIKE THIS!?"

"YEAH!" Mary shrugged as best as she could while listening to Bucky sigh in deep relief as the 'hamster wheel of doom' slowly lowered and the ride began to slow down to a halt. They were assisted off and they ran further down the theme-park to find another ride. They'd ridden on the Tango Train together and to avoid Bucky's metal arm slamming into the side of the car and punch a hole, she bravely sat to his left and endured the forming bruises.

"I'm _not_ doing the rotor again, if that's what you're thinking." Bucky had grasped her shoulders begging her as she looked in it's direction. "It was like being put through the spin-cycle."

"Fine. Hmm…" Mary looked around, pointing to a gorgeous carousel.

"Yeah, why not." He shrugged, it was good enough for her and they patiently queued up behind large amounts of couples and small children. It wasn't long before a curious child started tugging on Bucky's shirt.

"Why is your arm shiny?" The small boy asked. She wasn't sure why, but she was surprised to see him kneel to the boy's level, his small friends gathering around to listen.

"Yeah, it's all metal!" Another kid said. Bucky smiled and ruffled the boy's hair.

"I lost it." He explained simply.

"Did it get eaten by a dinosaur?"

"_No_." a small girl protested. "It got eaten by a dragon, _stupid_." Mary stifled a laugh.

"That sounds much more interesting than what really happened." Bucky replied kindly. "What do you think happened, dear?"

"Oh, didn't you tell me you lost it because your friend Steve asked you to lend him a hand?" Mary smirked, a couple of the kids laughed, some of the others a little confused but laughed nonetheless.

"You're horrible." Bucky replied, she smiled, watching the scene unfolding before her. There were too many emotions, and children's curiosity was probably the strongest thing she felt. It was difficult for her to hone in on Bucky, but she beamed happily when she sensed the amusement and happiness. The feeling certainly didn't last for long as she felt a blunt force hit the back of her neck.

* * *

><p>"But what about all our stuff? I was going to take him to a Japanese restaurant with karaoke!" Mary protested the moment they stepped off the air-strip and were greeted by who he guessed was the Director General of ASIO.<p>

"It's all been taken-care of, including your laundry." The woman coolly replied. Bucky wasn't entirely sure who this woman looked like or reminded him of. "Director General Linda Rose, pleasure to meet you Agent Reyes and Agent Barnes, we've got matters to talk about, so please follow us."

"For a secret organisation, they do get mentioned a lot." Mary nodded in agreement as they were led into multiple labyrinth-like hallways.

"Yeah, well I think it's because they do a bit of everything; intelligence, security and they probably do SHIELD-y things too." Mary shrugged "To be fair, you aren't the first Soviet spy here."

"What?"

"Petrov Affair, 1950's, mid-cold war. Worked wonders for the Liberal party for their election." Bucky glared at the agent who rudely pushed them into the room, the agent looked indifferent and continued his way down the corridor.

The Director stood at one side of the table, pointing to their seats. He grudgingly sat down, crossing his arms with a huff and shuffling down the seat. She faced them with a grim expression, exhaling and taking her seat.

"I do welcome you here, and we apologise for the inconvenience. We would have brought you in on a more civilised basis, but we do have a major problem. Putting it simply… SHIELD has fallen."

"No, _what!?_" Mary stood up. Bucky motioned for her to sit back down, albeit half-heartedly, he couldn't believe it either. "SHIELD as in Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division-"

"Is gone, as hard as it is to believe, but we're all at a knife's edge. You two are now rogue agents who work for no one." Director General Rose said simply. "You are free to continue your mission, after all, we can't have loose ends-"

"List. I need the list." Mary cut her off suddenly. Bucky slowly realised that there was a likelihood that- no, Steven was _not_ an idiot and would _not_ be there, he was on some godforsaken planet drinking himself to death. Director Rose handed over the list and hurriedly they both read through the names, many names he could see she recognised as he could see her lips tremble ever-so slightly. He read the name in his head:

_Mia Reyes_

Now that didn't make sense. She didn't have a cousin or anything working in SHIELD. Bucky also scanned the list.

"Agent Sam Wilson." She read aloud, she sat back in her seat, looking more shocked than he had ever seen. He too couldn't believe what he'd just read. Sam Wilson, _falcon_, he couldn't be…

"I'm sorry, I really am, but this is where the party cuts short." Director Rose now stood up, pushing her chair back and motioning for the agents standing at the door.

* * *

><p>Director Rose stared through 2 windows, one to her left and another to her right. In one room there stood a small woman, crossing her arms as she calmly answered questions. In another, a man had removed his metal arm, his hand upon the lie detector and answering with indifferent shrugs. It would help if they weren't so bored, honestly, all she wanted to extract was their information on SHIELD, but it appears that all they knew was the basics, things that people in division 1 could tell her. It seemed that Holmes was more calculating and shrewd that she expected.<p>

"Current training?" Agent Kim asked the girl.

"Fire arms and hand-to-hand. Arnis."

"Filipino Martial arts?"

"Yeah." Agent Reyes nodded "Holmes wanted fencing but I sort of went, nah, don't fancy having showdowns like in Die Another Day. Also, is the truth serum _really_ necessary? I mean-" Rose turned and sighed, looking towards the other window where Barnes sat, almost mirroring his partner's position.

She wasn't entirely sure why she even allowed herself to let Barnes into the building. She of all people knew of the Winter Soldier, everyone in her position did. If it weren't for the current situation, she would've gladly had him incarcerated, perhaps even, well, how should she put it… Barnes may have found himself dead in a pool of his own blood. Or not even perhaps, perhaps he would have been left in the desert or the bush. Neat, efficient and easily passed off as an accident. He was a threat, a threat to the general population and to this girl. Sure, she may have known what she was getting into, but she was still an Australian citizen and therefore under her protection. They didn't need another Johannesburg disaster; everyone had their own version of hell to pay for that.

* * *

><p>"So, down to this, are we?" Mary asked wryly. "Still feeling the effects of the truth serum?"<p>

"Oh yeah." Bucky moved off his bed to the floor of their hotel room, Mary did too, now sitting opposite him. "Ladies first."

"Truth or dare?"

"I'll start of tame. Truth." Bucky stated, Mary paused for a beat, surprised he took the easy way out first, unable to think of something, she said the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"Do you think I'm pretty? Honestly. And bonus points for reasoning."

"Well, personally as well as a lot of people, I think your eyes are your biggest selling point. They're very-"

"Brown and plain?"

"Doe-eyed and soft. You also do this thing when someone call's you and immediately there's a hair flick and an innocent look, which kills people, really. Your hair's fabulous, I hear agents getting all worked up about how straight it is. Back in my day, you'd hate them all because you would've had to curl it regularly. There's something sparkling and enigmatic about you, you're an intelligent person and you're a kind person to be around-"

"Pfft-"

"Okay, so when you're not making sarcastic comments." He concluded, Mary shrugged, it wasn't too bad of an assessment. "Also, there's a freckle on your lip. Was that always there?" Mary pulled her lower lip down to show him and nodded. "Okay, truth or dare."

"Truth."

"Would you kiss me if I asked?"

"Well you're cute and a nice person underneath that dark and mysterious façade. The only thing that's stopping me is the fact I know nothing about you and Captain Rogers."

"Fair enough." Bucky shrugged, putting a pained expression on his face. "Have you even kissed a guy?"

"Hey, one question only. Truth or dare?"

"Dare this time"

"I dare you ask Agent Adil out for coffee tomorrow, while she escorts us back to ASIO." Mary smirked, thinking up of the best way to set up this pretty kick-ass agent with her pretty kick-ass friend. "What? She's lovely and looks like she's got a thing for you."

"Fine, truth or dare?"

"Dare?"

"You know that party tomorrow night at ASIO?"

"Yeah…"

"I dare you to dress up as one of Captain America's chorus girls." Bucky smirked back at her victoriously, probably taking in her face, which previously described as 'bright and sparkling' now resembled a goldfish.

"But you have to go as Captain America." She finally managed to say.

"I was already planning to. Your turn."

"Truth or dare, you motherfucker."

"Truth, can't risk anymore emotional embarrassment from you."

"Why is the word 'wife' so easy for you to say?" Mary asked out of genuine curiosity. For the first couple of hours, Bucky hesitated. But now, whenever they were asked who they were, it was always him introducing her first and the word slipped off his tongue.

"I guess I reminded myself the stakes this charade is really playing on." Mary didn't say anything more, despite the fact she knew he lied and there was a lingering feeling she just couldn't put her finger on. "I choose another truth."

"I don't know… Oh, this is technically one question. Consider it as question 1a and 1b; how many exes and how did you break up with them all." Mary shrugged, she didn't mind question about her exes.

"Well, the first one I went to my year 12 formal with. He and I both worked at the same frozen-yoghurt store, we broke up because we sort of decided it wasn't working. The second one was during my first year at uni, he was great, we were both in the same med-science class, but he let go because he decided he couldn't do a long-distance relationship thing."

"Harsh." Bucky said.

"Not as bad as my last one. _That one_ was the definition of messy. I met him at SHIELD, great guy and everything until his self-entitled sexist arse thought that I was dressing up for him and by that extent, deserving of sex. So I straight-up spat back at him everything wrong with him and that no one could ever love a dick so fake that they're technically a dildo. I walked away at that point and ran into Captain Rogers at Stark Towers. After that I'm not entirely sure what happened…"

"What was his name?"

"Agent Finn O'Conell."

"Oh…" Bucky said simply, letting go of what she supposed was his 'quietly irritated' face.

"What's this 'oh', you're going to say something…"

"Steve may have briefly mentioned that he, Agent Holmes, Stark and Loki had him incriminated as an agent of Hydra and responsible for multiple information leaks, then proceeded to have his memory altered accordingly. Also they may or may not have had him incarcerated for life in a SHIELD facility in the middle of nowhere."

"So _that's_ what they did… I was wondering where he went off to." Mary said before feeling incredibly flattered at the fact they'd go to such lengths for someone they barely saw (save Emma and Tony when filing for him). "You?"

"Truth?"

"Is it true you were a bit of a playboy back in the day?"

"GODDAMNIT STEVEN!" Bucky raged, Mary laughed, clutching her stomach and leaning back on the edge of the bed. "In my own defence, I did whatever I could to score him a date as well."

"It sounded like he was third wheeling more often than not."

"_Dates!_" Bucky protested, causing her to laugh even more at his frustration. "Truth or dare"

"Truth"

"Who is Mia?"

"I am." Mary breathed getting it out of the way, but something still held her back. Bucky didn't need to know all the details of her past. "I was born Mia Irina Reyes, I took my sister's name in remembrance after she died. Look, Barnes, I'd love to tell you all this it's just I-"

"You can't." Bucky answered simply with a sympathetic smile "I understand. I just can't go on long rants about Hydra either. For both of us it's just too painful. Look, I'm sorry if I bought anything up that I shouldn't have-"

"No, it's okay, you would've found out one way or another. I'm just glad you had the tact not to say anything when you found out… maybe my name was published because this mission doesn't even exist-"

"I'm sorry?"

"Emma, sorry, Agent Holmes said that this was a multiple manhunt, right? But do you remember her dropping something about the infinity gems and the infinity gauntlet? That's why Johannesburg was covered up, because SHIELD got their hands on the gauntlet and that's why we've… we've." She stopped mid-sentence, unable to continue talking.

"We've been blown. You're right, I don't think this mission will ever be in the files, Agent Holmes is trying to keep this last case going because she probably thinks there's-"

"No, not thinks, she _knows_. I know, you know what? SHIELD's gone and fuck all courtesy. If I know Emma Sherlock Holmes-Laufyeson, I know that she's attached to me to the point she wouldn't send me out on a case like this without her on stand-by. This mission was created so that if it was written down, it would probably look like it was never meant to have been followed through with. Why do you think after the gala she kept assigning us?"

"Because this was her evil-villain plan all along…"

"Exactly. Which means she doesn't want us trust ASIO too much and they can't ever get their hands on the gem that's hidden _here_. But _here_ is a fuck-huge island with massive deserts and not enough time."

"But why is Wilson on that list?" Bucky let go quietly, Mary pulled the metaphorical breaks in her train of thoughts, now feeling the full-blow of Bucky's quiet anguish.

"I don't think he's dead." Mary said finally after a long thinking process, slowly smiling.

"What?"

"I don't think he's dead. Look at that list, do you remember those names? Those names don't add up. They all worked across the board, and according to the details of the attack, there are several places where these people worked that they could've escaped. But Agents Smith and Fuller, they were both on that list, and unless my babies were pulling a Romeo and Juliet, I don't think this is a coincidence. They don't work on the same days.

"What?"

"This is going to sound _mad_. But if Fury has to stay dead permanently, that means Coulson's Director, which means, he doesn't want to keep quiet like this. If he wants SHIELD to continue, they go underground. These agents aren't dead, they've been given an escape plan out of SHIELD for good. I'm on that list, dunno why. Wilson is on that list because Emma's still Emma and she's a horrible perfectionist and stress-machine, so she'll need someone on our backs and to report to SHIELD."

"Which means-"

"SHIELD just pulled the biggest disappearing trick in history, forget what Hydra did, SHIELD just perfected the art of faking its own death. This gives the enemy time to think we're vulnerable and time for the rest of us to get on with our job. If Emma didn't know there was a gem here for certain, then she wouldn't have only sent us on an oddly specific mission, and if SHIELD was meant to be really gone, my name wouldn't have been on that list." Mary concluded, taking a deep breath.

"You going to need a drink, Einstein?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. What we have to do now is figure out how to get into contact with Wilson."

"But how did you figure that all out?"

"My desk is on the same large table-space as Agents Smith and Fuller. They told me that when they started out they had the same shifts, but they didn't want anyone knowing they were dating, so they changed their days up. Also, the old head of the department was a bit of a homophobe, so they had to keep that hidden."

"Calm down, you don't need to know everything." Bucky joked, Mary shrugged. "Point is, we gotta get your costume made."

"Okay, I am raiding your luggage and calling ASIO for some fabric and a sewing-machine. Can you draw?"

"I'm not Steve, I'm not an artist."

"Can you at least calculate areas of composite shapes and apply my measurements to that?"

"Yes."

"Well thank _bloody_ fuck."

* * *

><p>"I-I was wondering…" Bucky started off sheepishly, Mary had to stifle her giggle as she returned from her brief trip to 'go to the toilet'. What she meant was get a safe distance away from Bucky and watch him attempt to ask Agent Fatima Adil out. Seriously, where was she getting such pretty scarves.<p>

"Yes?" She asked, Mary knew that Agent Adil's eyelash bat was irresistible and would probably work.

"If you'd like coffee?" Mary smacked her forehead as silently as she could, he was the worst. Honestly, it was so anticlimactic. Oh well, on the other hand, Adil was now laughing slightly, patting his shoulder sympathetically and telling him that she was alright and she didn't. She now returned, throwing Adil an apologetic look at Bucky's awkwardness. Was Captain Rogers actually lying to her? Rogers couldn't lie, everyone knew that. He couldn't even lie about leaving the toilet seat up, let alone make up a story.

"There you are, now you two have a debrief and then have the rest of the afternoon off before tonight. We're glad you both decided to join us on our party. Also, was the fabric okay?" Adil asked as she escorted them out of the hotel and into a car.

"Just gorgeous, I'm nearly done, and thanks for sending them over with the take-away." Mary thanked. "I love the scarf you're wearing today, the floral pattern is gorgeous!"

"Thanks, ASIO's very lenient when it comes to hijabs. As long as they stay in place, they don't care. They're also alright with catering for our religious needs, no matter what religion actually." Adil shrugged. Bucky was sitting in the back seat of the limo, obviously still angsting about his failed attempt. Mary couldn't quite pin-point Bucky's emotions in her mind, there was too much interference from other people. Fucking politicians. "So, if you don't mind me asking, I was informed you're a mutant, yes?"

"Yeah. Empath, getting used to it all." Mary replied.

"So, what's it like?"

"Have you ever heard what it's like through a hearing-aid?" Adil shook her head. "Well, we had a colleague whose deaf at SHIELD come in and the doctors played some sounds for us. It was like hearing everything while having a 747's engine being blasted in your ears. They don't have selective hearing. Likewise, my brain doesn't function by selectively choosing who's emotions or lies to feel, so it feels everyone."

"So it's like having white-noise all the time." Adil summarised.

"Basically, sometimes it comes, sometimes it goes. Sometimes I feel everyone's emotions, sometimes I can't even tell my own. Very strange mutation. Now a _telepath_, that I'd hate to be. I think we all deserve a little suspended belief in our lives."

"Adil, we've got a problem." The driver pointed ahead. Mary's mouth fell into a small 'o' shape, staring at the motorcade in front of them. "Fucking politicans."

"They fund us, we can't really complain." Adil sighed "No matter what they're policies may be. You elect one party, they do nothing and the party that was previously in power that did absolutely nothing sounds like a better alternative now that they're pointing out the other party's flaws."

"Despite the fact it was their flaws too. Remember when they backflipped on Gonski and they were going to cut education funds?" Mary asked Adil. She nodded, they both made pointed faces, that was a horrible. "Does ASIO do anything for Asylum Seekers, by any chance?"

"More than the media would have you think. What do you watch?"

"ABC and sometimes SBS."

"Well at least you're fine. We're in the firing line with all the other tabloids." She winced as the motorcade finally passed and they could continue to headquarters. Meanwhile Bucky Barnes was still angsting in the corner.

* * *

><p>"Does this feel awfully wrong to you?" Bucky asked her, she nodded, her brows meeting in the middle slightly as she assessed everyone in the room.<p>

"Damn."

"What?"

"They're all emotionless. They know I'm an empath. I'm only getting feed from you." She said quietly, crossing her arms and playing around on the computer chair she was sitting upon. Bucky continued to observe the agents' movements, until the director general entered.

"Alright, you all know why we're here. We agreed to help them and here we are, giving you help."

"What terms and conditions are you planning?" Mary suddenly stated in a cool tone. Everyone turned to face her, she raised a brow.

"Nothing too hard."

"Liar." She smirked "No, you want something, information is the most likely. Oh, you're wondering why I can suddenly hear your thoughts. I kicked this under the table." Mary held up a small black box, Bucky took it from her, examining the wiring and all the components. "It was a brain-wave scatterer or whatever. Point is, it's not working and I can hear all your guilt. Don't worry, just guilt and feelings and the truth. I'm not a telepath." Bucky stared at them all as if to mentally reiterate her point, but he knew she was bluffing, the device was working perfectly, after all she couldn't sense anything.

"Alright, what we want is SHIELD intel."

"And you honestly though a newbie could give you that?"

"No, we honestly knew that a mutant could give you that."

"She's an _empath_!" Bucky corrected, exasperated "She knows you murdered someone and why you would, but not how and who and where."

"Thank you." She smiled before turning back to face them. "No, you mean intel on the Avengers, X-men and the executive circle. Even if I did, it's a bit redundant as SHIELD's gone." She played that card, he internally welled up with pride.

"So, that means you're playing to our rules if you don't want to lose what we're here for." Mary finished, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"So, let me repeat the question, and remind yourselves we know the truth; what do you want from SHIELD?" Bucky asked threateningly "Weapons? You don't _need_ intel on SHIELD, you said so yourself, SHIELD is gone."

"No, it's more than weapons. They want some of the 804's. Well, here's the thing, we can't give you them, they've all but been destroyed. But we can perhaps get our hands on other things-"

"No, what are you doing?" Bucky protested, however something told him this was her ploy. "You can't do that-"

"The bloody hell I can! Look, we could easily get you Stark technology and some remaining SHIELD weapons. We can also give you something much more tantalising."

"Like what?" Director General Rose asked, an ascension of murmurs went around the table.

"We could give you one of SHIELD'S most dangerous 804's." Bucky finished for Mary, the pair of them making eye-contact and simultaneously staring down the room.

"Mind you, just one. Pick one." He could see where they could both go with this lie. He'd already encountered multiple misconceptions about Mary's abilities and they also thought she couldn't lie… if he went along with this, they could easily find out what was really going on.

"We want 804 number 70." Rose replied simply.

"I think we're done here." Bucky conceded with a nod, helping Mary out of her chair and silently exiting the room.

* * *

><p>"And so I was like-" Mary wasn't even sure why she was listening to these people talk, but she couldn't sense a damn thing and it was brilliant. Also, she may have downed a cocktail or two, but so far her lipstick had stayed all night and her skirt was too fucking short for her liking. Should she mention that ASIO had themed their party superheroes? Because she felt like that needed serious questioning. She spent all afternoon raiding her suitcase and Canberra's boutique stores for components she could recycle and throw into her costume. It worked though, only thing she was missing was a helmet. "And then- OH MY GOD ARE THEY PLAYING ANACONDA!"<p>

"Yeah, you… go have fun or whatever… I'm just gonna sit here and…" Mary flumped forward a little bit on the bar-table, her head resting on her hand, other arm raising her cocktail glass in farewell. She wasn't even sure why Agent Adil thought it was a '_great'_ idea to invite the pair of the to ASIO's annual party, but at the time it sounded like a fun thing to do. Now Bucky was somewhere on the dance floor dropping it hella low while slightly intoxicated (or at least she hoped he was intoxicated… because that was frankly embarrassing)

Eventually she sort of got off her chair and moved to the dance floor to join a couple of Agents she'd met earlier that evening. It was sort of fun, to be completely honest, you could tell who all the sad emo kids were when they started playing Fall out Boy and Panic! At The Disco. It was also sort of weird as most people turned up as the Justice League (when she meant the Justice League, she meant most people, indiscriminate of gender, were dressed up as Wonder Woman). She also saw some pretty sick Watchmen cosplays, and there she stood, embarrassingly executing her favourite party move; the sprinkler, in a stupid chorus girl outfit. Why the hell did she decide it was a good idea?

"YOOOOOO, BUCKY!" Mary shouted, glad she could ditch her new-found time-wasters, shoving her way past people to where Bucky was sitting, drinking with a few agents.

"BRUUUUUUUUH!" Bucky replied back, evidently drunk. That was a _weird_ thing to see and hear, drunk _or_ sober. "This is Agents… um…. I forget their names…."

"I am _so_ glad you're here. This is like the _worst_ party I have _ever_ been to, and let me tell you I have been to a _lot_ of parties…" Mary rambled on, she wasn't entirely sure if everyone could keep up with her speed right now.

"Wait… ah _crap_… have you seen my phone?" Bucky searched his pockets "I'm gonna see what Steven's been posting on Instamagram…"

"I got it!" Mary announced, searching through her purse, throwing out tampons and packets of chewing gum in order to look for his phone.

"I love you." Bucky hugged her as she handed him his phone.

"_What?_"

"As a friend!" Bucky clarified.

"Okay, that's cool, I can roll with that!"

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry, exam block is looming over the horizon, but the next chapter is done and ready to be uploaded exams are over and done with. Next chapters are going to be the most fun, as it's all driving around NSW with stupidly fast changes in speed zones. Also have photos ready to make my fictional instagram post on tumblr, so watch that space. Reviews will be lovely as I'm writing my notes :) ily dears


	4. Part 4

A/N: I am _really_ sorry about abandoning you all temporarily, I've just been non-stop studying then I did the exams then I had a volunteer week and just, they threw everything they possible could at me, Just ignore me while I ache all over from boxercise in PE. Anyway, shiz gets real in this chapter, won't get too wordy at the start, so here's part 4, enjoy the fun.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing and I am dying in the Australian heat.

* * *

><p>An Agent and An Assassin<p>

Part 4: To Catch A Thief

"They have _got_ to stop kidnapping us." Mary said in a quiet voice, as she awoke from her induced coma. "No, we can't be…"

"Can't be where?" Bucky asked, she raised a brow, mentally asking him if his hangover was alright. She guessed he understood as he nodded and pointed to his bottle of water and a convenient alka-seltzer beside him.

"I know this place, I grew up near here. My old school's not that far away." She said in a far-off voice before she realised that they were _not_ on a plane, but in a car in a car park. Wow, wasn't _she_ a lightweight when it came to drinking.

"Your royal highness." A familiar voice said as he opened the door. Mary also realised that she was in normal clothing and not her cosplay that she haphazardly threw together. Hey, it worked though.

"You son of a _bitch_!" Mary seethed, as she exited the car, staring the agent in the face.

"You know him?" Bucky asked as he exited the car through the opposite door. Mary stared at the agent, reacquainting herself with his slim and tall build, his ridiculously curly hair and that stupid grin.

"George Demetriou. Friend of mine, dated his brother for a bit."

"The one and only. Lovely to see you again, Mary." Mary dropped all anger, as the pair laughed and she was pulled into one of his trademark bear hugs.

"How's your brother?"

"He's moved on." George smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, Agent Barnes. Huge fan by the way."

"Pleasure to meet you too." Mary watched as Bucky took his hand, slightly noting the civil tone he took and the lingering feeling of resentment. "Why are we here?"

"Because I don't work for ASIO, per se." George answered coolly, motioning for them to follow him to the other side of the car park. Mary stopped for a moment, he did just state that he didn't work for ASIO.

"Oh I _love_ you." Bucky said quietly, as Mary found herself being handed the keys to a retro Volkswagen Kombi, beautifully finished with chrome details and leather seats.

"It's also got all the modern toys for you, now here's where it gets better." George slid open the door of the Kombi, where there were multiple computer monitors and technology to hack into anything they could have ever wanted. "Also, cloaking device on both of them."

"Both of them?" They asked simultaneously. Mary noticed the customised smiley-face button on the key set, pressing it, a camper-trailer was revealed.

"Oh _shit_ yes!" Mary said in absolute disbelief, running towards the door, also noticing their suitcases neatly piled next to it. "Has it got a kitchen and bathroom though?"

"Oh yeah, because personal experience says _you_ are high maintenance."

"Bitch please, your brother was horrible when me and the guys all stayed at the snow. He stacked it _so_ bad downhill. You should've seen his _face-_"

"Calm down girls, so if you don't work for ASIO, who do you work for?" Bucky asked, Mary turned around, questioning that as well.

"SHIELD." George said simply and on-cue the door of the trailer opened. Out stepped Agent Sam Wilson of SHIELD, and definitely _not dead_.

"Called it."

* * *

><p>"So you're telling me that SHIELD's not gone?" Mary clarified for the last time, as they all sat together in the cramped trailer. George didn't lie, it had <em>everything<em> they could've ever wanted.

"No, we had to make it look like it. As of right now, you two don't even exist."

"Why are you even here though?" Mary asked again, her questions coming in like rapid fire. So she'd just learned alcohol impeded her abilities, which was probably both a blessing and a curse at the same time.

"Because your SO named me your temporary guardian angel. There are _literally_ only 50 people at SHIELD right now, most of them got laid off or voluntarily left. For your sake, you were listed as dead."

"What about me?" Bucky asked, finally breaking his silence.

"You were never mentioned in our asset list in the first place. Holmes made a smart move and removed your name from the list the moment she got promoted."

"That smart fucker." Mary muttered under her breath. "So how come you're debriefing me. I literally negotiated rather than got a debrief yesterday."

"ASIO's going to fall too, aren't they?" Bucky said from beside her, Mary re-thought everything through and watched it all fall into place. There was a reason why Director General Rose was on tenterhooks and a reason why she was so hesitant half the time.

"From within, Hydra again."

"Getting a bit boring, isn't it?" George piped up sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, how come your badge says ASIO, not SHIELD?"

"I unofficially work for SHIELD, ASIO thinks I work for them. Not that hard, our point is we heavy suspect someone is trying to bring ASIO down from the inside."

"So you want us to…"

"Solve the case then help ASIO not fall. Or fall, depends what's going on." Wilson concluded. "Look, things are hard and-"

"Who's Director?"

"Fury isn't anymore, he's been demoted to a secret asset, like Barnes he isn't on the list. Coulson's now Director and Hill has asked to be relieved of her position and demoted to an agent. Coulson's gotten rid of levels except for some 'senior' sort of thing, so it just means they've been in there for longest or they're the head of the department." Wilson explained. "This means you don't need any clearances to access most files except for incredibly private ones. Agent Holmes also asked me to give you this, Agent Reyes." Mary was handed a large cardboard box, she took it and nodded in thanks, placing it beside the ladder of the loft-bed above the dining area. "Look, we'll be in contact with you all this time. I'm meant to be dead so I'll be enjoying the heat in Sydney. Agent Demetriou will also be in contact as will Agent Hill if you're absolutely desperate, we've left further instructions inside the van for sub-wave signals and such."

"Okay, so, what are we really here to do?"

"Find the last two remaining infinity stones." George said simply, Mary held her palm open as Bucky pressed a 10 dollar note in her hand. "It isn't hard to see why they chose a place like this. ASIO's too preoccupied with all its problems to notice."

"So, how do we find them?"

"We've got no idea except for Agent Holmes' speculation and her collaboration with Agent Rajawat in India, Agent Zheng in Singapore, Agent Fujioka in Japan and Agent Santos in the Philippines-"

"This sounds like a Pacific Rim AU of my life, except without the giant-robots."

"Well you obviously missed Christmas 2014." Wilson snorted "They're all in the Asia-Pacific region because the fluctuations in whatever- the- fuck- it- is came from these areas. Japan, India, Singapore, New Zealand have all fallen or found their versions of Hydra, so Australia's worried it'll be them next."

"So, mental note to self, too late to back out of a career in intelligence."

"Definitely." Wilson agreed with her. "So, without delaying you guys any further, we reckon you should head up north to the Hunter Valley."

"I am_ not_ taking him for a drinking trip." Mary protested, pointing to Bucky.

"Shut up you honeymooners, point is we go a lead there. You, lovebirds, go." George finished, standing up. Mary watched both of them exit the trailer, Wilson waving goodbye and George hopping into the other side of the car with him. It was going to be a _long_ ride.

* * *

><p>"So, you're fine with me driving?" Bucky asked, it was weird for him to be driving on this side of the road, but since he'd arrived at SHIELD, they had enrolled him in a course to be able to drive on both sides of the road. He passed with flying colours (no idea how Steve did, though).<p>

"Oh yeah, I've driven to the Hunter Valley before, it's fine. We're probably going to de-bunk a winery, it's the most likely place. I'm hoping it's not the gardens, they _lovely_ this time of year…"

"Well once you get over that, remind me why you've chosen the music?"

"Because you've yet to be introduced to the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and now in music."

"I was _there_."

"In Soviet Russia."

"Okay so we had that _one_ song-"

"Nah mate, my music." Mary happily chirped. Bucky rolled his eyes as _99 Red Balloons_ played from the speakers. "Also, I think we'll split cooking duties and we should designate some time to train."

"Fair enough, so this stuff only works if it's plugged into a powered site?"

"No, I did some looking around and it's definitely SHIELD make, it's been fitted out with a miniature arc-reactor, like in Avengers Tower, so it should run all our electricity if we choose for it to. But the water we have to re-fill."

"Yeah, you can't take you high-maintenance length showers." Bucky joked.

"Hey, my hair is up to my waist, you try rinsing out that much conditioner, I dare you." She challenged with a smile, before propping her feet up on the dash, air-drumming to the song then picking up the folders within the box she was handed earlier. "So it says here the person we're after is an agent of a man called 'The Collector', he's here to either hide the gems or make a dead-drop."

"If it's the latter?"

"Then it's a multiple man-hunt like we were told. If it's the latter, then I have a horrible feeling that ASIO's moles are after it to bring it down."

"Lovely, mission sorted." Bucky smiled, stopping that the traffic light, hopefully he made the turning onto the motorway. "Wait, have you got the E-tag?"

"Yeah." Mary placed the device on the dash and held up a wallet filled with credit cards "And the funding for your souvenirs."

"I thought you'd count." Bucky teased, she laughed before leafing through all the files that had been left to them. "Anything interesting yet?"

"How good are you with dealing with mercenaries?" She asked lightly before continuing to read. "Yeah, the dead-drop is set to take place at night, there's an auction for jewellery and such. And it seems I was right." She handed him an address, he wedged it between the visor and the ceiling. "It's an old mansion with a winery."

"Are we going to have to come up with an alias?"

"Probably. I mean, honeymooning couple isn't enough. Honeymooning couple that happen to be billionaires on the other hand?"

"What happens if we max-out the credit cards? What if it's cash-on-hand?"

"Well then, that's where we thank Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton for teaching me how to steal things." Mary answered dryly. "Besides, what we have to worry about is who could want to steal it or what this infinity gem does."

"Why, what does it do?"

"Well, there are two. One of them controls all of reality and another controls time."

"Not a good combo."

"Exactly –ooh you're on the motorway now!- so we have to figure out where they could be found, who would want them, how we store them. Once we find them we've got like no time to get back to SHIELD's new headquarters and have our team of like 7 scientists work on it."

"So, what _is_ this infinity gauntlet?" Bucky asked.

"Well, from what these files say, it's like a scary-ass glove that if you embed all of the infinity gems, will give you enough power to take over the galaxies. I mean, the tesseract was already bad news, and all that did was create portals through space, so imagine what these two could do."

"So you're saying they left _us_ all alone, to find the most powerful weapons in the universe?"

"Yup." She popped her 'p', before checking the time, they still had a good 2 hours before they reached their destination. "So, killing time with conversation, would you mind if I took the loft, I tried climbing up there earlier and you know how short I am, and I could barely sit up. My legs were bent and everything."

"Yeah, it looked small. I don't get why they didn't just make it as wide as the caravan."

"It's because there's storage space on the side, also you have to take into account the door. I think the side where your bed is can be expanded out a bit as well, so it leaves more space for the passageway between the dressers and the bathroom. The fridge is stocked, there's even food from Ikea-"

"Does this mean we have to go grocery shopping?" Bucky asked, implying that he evidently didn't want to.

"Yeah, it'll be fun though, don't worry. But we're also going to have to look up places to drop this trailer off at- OH MY GOD I HAVE WI-FI!" Mary fist-pumped, as she logged onto her laptop and realised that both the Kombi and the trailer had StarkIndustries-speed Wi-Fi. "Anyway, is that a maccas?"

"Yeah… But we've only been driving for a few minutes."

"_Fine_. But I'm choosing where we have lunch, also if you're thinking about even drinking, I'm going to fucking kill you."

* * *

><p>"<em>That's<em> a steak." Bucky managed to get out, staring at the large steak in front of him, served with a large serving of chips and salad.

"It's great though." Mary replied, happily cutting up her steak and thanking the waiter for bringing their milkshakes. The drive to Pokolbin had been alright, he complained a bit about the length of the drive and she laughed, talking about the time she and her university friends drove all the way down to Melbourne to attend another round of Supanova conventions. "Anyway, you got all those flyers we printed out? Do we know exactly where the dead drop will take place?"

"Yes, there's an auction for valuables and unique artefacts at a Vineyard a couple of minutes from here. Looks nice, masquerade theme doubles up as a guarantee of animosity, including the dark."

"Lovely, they got cute stores here we'll be able to buy something. Is there a clue on what they're auctioning?" She asked between her shovelling of chips and steak and salad into her mouth.

"Like I said, valuables. But if SHIELD pointed us in this direction… I'm pretty sure this is what we're looking for. What we have to do know is find a way to get in without an invitation."

"Oh, leave that to me. I've been meaning to get into these computers ever since we got them. A couple of hours with photoshop, tops?"

* * *

><p>"Yoooo, loving the mysterious yet sexy vibe we've got going here." Mary teased, as he turned around, despite his upper face being covered by a silken, black mask; he was evidently exasperated.<p>

"You appear to be giving a very floaty, butterfly look. What _is_ that in your hair, you'll poke someone's eye out!" Bucky was referencing her fascinator. She'd made it for Melbourne Cup a few years back, the butterfly was laser-cut by her friend while she and another friend made the bed of flowers to be perched at an angle on her hair.

"It's a fantastical masquerade; did you _not_ read the encrypted message?" She held her mask in her hands, motioning for Bucky to assist her in tying it. "It's just I won't be able to tie it up properly and I don't want it to come off, it's hard virtually not having a nose bridge…"

"Yeah, yeah, just shut your mouth, will you dollface?"

"You call me dollface _one_ more time…"

"I don't even _like_ calling you dollface, I just _know_ it'll annoy you!" Bucky defended as she swivelled around angrily, and blinking irregularly, trying to get used to the mascara clumping on her real and fake lashes. "So, we got a game plan?"

"No, not really. The general idea was that we waltz in looking fabulous, go along with it, get the gems, maybe get some intel and then do a runner."

"What makes you think they'd even have both gems?" Bucky asked cynically, she nodded, conceding he had a point. "Nice dress by the way, is that a wedding gown?..."

"What? _No!_" Mary was a little taken aback, it was a white dress, but it certainly wasn't a wedding dress, she'd worn it to a wedding, but it wasn't a wedding gown….

"Oh… sorry, I just thought…"

"Mass production, going to have to get used to it. Anyway, listen, I think we should leave our communication channels open in the van, so if we do get anything, we can relay it over."

"Figured out how to use it yet?" Bucky held the van's door open, she nodded in thanks, trying not to sink in the grass. They had moved the camper and van to a relatively close and dark part of the estate's gardens, just off the main road. With the cloaking devices on, she was sure it would be more or less safe, as for them, it was a bit harder to conceal weapons, they were hoping that SHIELD were right about their ability to cheat security. "Okay, so what was your genius idea on the cover again?"

"Arranged marriage, means we don't have to walk together or even have to look at each other too much. Also, It means we can get more information, listen, I'm gonna try a couple of things I learned from Derren Brown, so fair warning, try not to disturb me too much."

"Okay, you sure I should've changed my arm?" They'd agreed that afternoon that it would be wise to wear his realistic-looking arm rather than his usual metal one. "If we get into trouble, I'd hate to spend more time than we'd have to."

"We won't, this is just… a dinner party neither of us want to go to…"

The Estate preferred that like it's guests, that it's true name remain anonymous (well, once it got to wine tasting she was sure experts would be able to figure it out). Like many wine estates in the Hunter Valley, it was large and grand to the very definition of the words. This particular estate was a federation-era mansion, red brick matching the red fruit of the grapes. Many guests were already waiting by the entrance to enter, it had yet to chime 7. To her it felt surreal, she'd had a debutante ball (well, which Filipino teenager didn't, it was either that or a trip overseas during her HSC trials in Year 12), but she'd never gotten the fairytale vibes until that very moment. All emotion aside, she found herself able to hone in on the multitude of emotions, however the most prominent of them all was the pure lust for these unique pieces.

"What are you sensing?" Bucky asked her quietly as he readjusted his mask, she tapped her temple before opening her mouth to speak.

"And you said _I_ was over-dressed." She smirked, as Bucky took in the sights and textures of the grand Carnivale and _Commedia dell'Arte_ costumes and Venetian masks, though of course not all were as grand as the many Pantalones or Arlecchinos, there were even Brighellas and Columbines. So she enjoyed _Commedia_, basically, things like this stuck in her mind with all the studying she did for her major work in Drama and Extension English 2. "Not to worry, it was either this mask or a wolf mask. I was really tempted to get you the wolf mask, would've spoke volumes about your sex life-"

"Will you _please_ drop that? It was the _one_ annoying guy who got all the wrong ideas-"

"Calm down." She whispered as the now stood at the entrance, already catching glimpses of a golden and crystalline world within.

"Names?" The masked woman dressed in a tuxedo-uniform inquired, as she stood behind the large tome, which sat upon a glass lectern. "Just your first."

"Irina." Mary answered, handing over their very-well faked invitations.

"James." Bucky gave, the woman nodded and they passed through a wooden archway, though the unusual thickness of the wood told her it concealed security devices. They found themselves in a golden ballroom, two attendants handed them each a small velvet, drawstring purse, upon closer inspection it held a black fountain pen and small, thick calling cards. "Who do we attack first?"

"Flirt a little, that woman with the fox mask over there by the punch would be a good person to start with. Get some intel, I'll be over there with that lecher, if things get out of hand, _please_ don't hesitate to interfere."

"So, does this make me your knight in shining armour?"

"No, this just makes you a decent human being, who looks out for the wellbeing of others."

* * *

><p>The golden grandfather clock chimed 10 and there was an immediate silence. Mary had managed to find him, a rather demure smile on her face. He noticed that she was rubbing at the base of her neck, and placing a perfume bottle back in her clutch.<p>

"I just found out what's happening." She murmured, as people began to assemble in front of the grand staircase, a man in a full Bauta outfit took his place beside a woman dressed in an identical outfit, save for its blue colour. "Also, if one more person calls me their dolce farfallina, I'm going to shove that Il Dottore mask up someone's ass."

"I never knew you understood Italian…" Bucky said quietly.

"Primary school, lessons every Thursday. I'm pretty fluent." She answered before they were all hushed, the man with his grand theatrics, Bucky couldn't quite make what he was saying, he guessed that his partner was quietly taking everything in, perhaps trying to come up with the best way to emotionally manipulate their way into having one of the gems. "_Oh_…"

"What?"

"In two minutes they bring out the artefacts for inspection, it's a silent auction, except for the biggest prize-"

"The gem."

"_Exactly_- Oh, don't let Flavio and Isabella wander off…"

"What?"

"Sorry, drama jokes. Go through the artefacts, we need to see what we're up against." Mary instructed, she left his side again and he wandered about, glass cases now displayed what were previously hidden under velvet cloth. The piece, as he suspected, that all people would flock towards was the gem.

It seemed to be the centrepiece to a magnificent golden necklace. The small gold plague beside it informed Bucky that it was the Brisìngamen. From memory, he remembered once reading that it belonged to the Norse goddess Freya, it was her torc or something to that effect. It was only then that Bucky noticed that if he wandered to the veranda beyond the large windows of the ballroom, there were multiple curtained booths, where costumed men and women would write upon their slips of card and hand them to the woman who was wearing, what Mary told him, was called a Bauta.

"What are you doing?" he asked, grabbing Mary's wrist after she turned the corner, having handed a slip to the woman.

"It's nothing." She answered stiffly, miraculously prising her tiny wrist out of his grip (it really was small) and walking further down the veranda.

"No, what did you bid?"

"Nothing you need to know about."

"Look, I _know_ we're pretending that we're disliking our arranged marriage, but you need to tell me what you just bid on."

"You don't need to know." He noticed the dangerous tone in her voice that time. "Just so you know, the format for bidding is: '_I formally bid, insert your amount here, for the, insert the artefact here, collection point by the, insert selection point here.'_" That was all she said before vanishing into the crowd of sumptuous fabrics, the fluttery white fabric of her gown dispersing like mist. He stood there, unsure of what so say, before moving over to the woman Mary had handed the small card to.

"What did my wife bid on?" He asked casually. "It's just that, I don't think it was enough, and it _is_ her birthday in a month."

"The woman in the silver and pearl mask? Butterfly fascinator?" The woman asked, going through the small cards filed in crystal boxes. "I'm going to need an assurance detail. Blackmail material, you get the point."

"On _her_?"

"You are only married by arrangement." The woman replied coldly, steely glint of her eyes piercing him through the sheer, black ribbon that acted as mask. "So, your assurance? Please take this recorder into the booth and record it." He followed her instructions, closing the velvet curtains behind him.

"You don't need to know anything about my wife. I am a murderer." Bucky quietly stated into the small box. It was a simple as that, the woman took the box and handed over her card. Bucky quickly took note of the serial number, handed it back with thanks and desperately tried to run back into the house, in search of Mary and the piece.

He found the piece first, and he was just a little taken aback at what she had bid 10 thousand dollars for. It was a simple engagement ring, charming enough. A simple pear-cut diamond was set on a silver-gold ring, with a matching set of earrings. Along with the set were a child's set of ruby-earrings and matching pendant, and another child's opal bracelet. 10 thousand dollars of her own hard-earned money, he was confused, and as confused as he was, he couldn't risk bidding higher than that as they needed all their money for the gems.

* * *

><p>Mary couldn't sense any emotions, she was too caught up in her own. What was that set doing there? It shouldn't have been there.<p>

"There it is." Bucky pointed. There was almost a reverent silence as the Brìsingamen was bought out of it's case. Another piece, this time a mid-1400s circlet of what appeared to be French design was placed beside it. "How much can we bid?"

"According to these cards, they're linked to Asgard's royal treasury."

"_What_?"

"Yeah, so we can't go over 1 billion. Emma wrote out that she's working on the loan arrangements on our behalf. As you could expect, they have to orchestrate this so that no one on Asgard or Earth knows what we're bidding on, or that the money's missing anyway."

"They'll probably just want the necklace and crown-"

"_Circlet_. But we need to figure out a way to keep the gems out of their sights. Off radar and off whatever else they can throw at us. I think in the files it said the Tesseract was giving off low-levels of gamma radiation. So I'll whack these in the radiation-proof safe… _oh god_."

"Mary, calm down." Bucky soothed, his metal arm, winding around her, his mere presence giving her comfort. "Even if we only get one, we'll be able to track it."

"I'm just scared whatever we bid isn't going to be enough." Mary replied quietly, before watching the host walk to the front, before him the two artefacts.

"We have a starting bid of 1.5 million."

"_Fuck_." Bucky whispered. Mary decided to hold out for a moment, hopefully she'd managed to discourage enough people from bidding while she went around.

"2 million."

"5 million."

"Come _on_." Bucky said quietly.

"This is an auction, darling, not a sale on E-bay." Mary smiled grimly, the price now hiking to 20 million, then to 30 million.

"50 million." Bucky bid, giving an apologetic shrug.

"60." Another person countered. Mary had now narrowed down who wanted the gems, the man dressed as Pantalone, another dressed as The Sun King, a woman dressed as Titania. What struck her was the woman held a small mask, belonging to a small child who would've been dressed as Puck.

"Rest it a bit, watch it slow down." Mary whispered urgently. Bucky nodded and together they despaired, the bid reaching 200 million."

"Where are they even getting this money?"

"No idea…" Mary replied "I doubt the Rineharts, the Packers and the Murdochs are here. Reckon Russell Crowe is, though. And I don't think the Australian government would waste this much money on something outright. So I'm reckoning that CSRIO might be bidding, as would international competitors."

"Sensing anything yet?"

"No, just using intuition." She answered, she was feeling more nervous than she ever had in her life.

"500 million." Bucky bid. Mary nodded in agreement, scrunching her gloves up into a compact ball, resisting the urge to burst into tears from the pressure.

"550 million." Mary almost shouted in relief, the bidding had begun to slow down. 550, then 560, then 570. They continued to slow until the figure had reached 600 million.

"640." Bucky bid, together they listened as the figure continued to increase only slowly. "We're only going to get one."

"Fine, I can cope with that." The answer escaped her lips before her mind registered it. The taste of victory was getting ever closer, she could almost see herself place either circlet or necklace inside the safe. Well, she believed that until someone bid something beyond belief.

"10 billion, for both necklace and circlet." Mary dropped her purse in shock, turning around to face the man dressed as Oberon. He reached out for the woman dressed as Titania, walking together they collected

"Of course it wasn't going to come that easily to us." She remarked bitterly.

"No." Bucky protested, but they both knew well that the fight was over. In one way, she supposed, her goal now was to find Puck.

* * *

><p>"So what makes you think the child is staying here?"<p>

"I don't think it's their child." Mary replied simply "I can sense emotions again, and the sense isn't like parent-child, it's more… niece and nephew. Their niece or nephew is probably the child of the host, they're overly familiar with them, but not familiar enough."

"No parental love?"

"Something like that." Bucky nodded, quietly pushing against the wall as she turned the corner as a man approached. She glared at him, mouthing that she _wanted_ to get caught. He glared back at her harder and what ensued could be described as an infantile staring-contest, though he gave up, deciding to let her make her move. He watched from the shadows as she caught up with the man, her posture shifted and he watched her place a hand on her hip. It would've been comical, had it not been so serious, watching his friend flirt her away around this man. It wasn't entirely seductive, no, it was cheeky and innocent, the sort of innocence that wicked men would try to desperately corrupt. She knew that, that idiot with sparkling, warm doe-eyes. So it wasn't much of a surprise to him when she delivered a calculated and paralysing blow to the neck as he moved in on her. Not a single kiss or caress wasted.

"Done, now, get in the room."

"They're hiding the gem in there?" She smiled at him in excitement, he guessed it meant she could sense emotions again.

"It's not where they're hiding it, but with who. I'm going to emotionally manipulate a child." Mary stated with the grace of a blunt axe.

"Aren't you cheerful." She snorted in agreement opening the door carefully, inside a small boy sat curled up on his bed. Her smile turned sympathetic, closing the door quietly behind both of them.

"Get away!" the boy pulled his sheets up towards his chin, he removed his mask and so did she.

"We heard your crying. And all I can say is, I'm sorry." The boy seemed to soften a little. Her observations about the Puck costume were right, as they sat discarded on the floor. Bucky decided to move slowly towards the boy and sit beside him in order to try and comfort him. "This is about your parents going away, isn't it?"

"They've got _another_- Why do they _never_!?" Bucky held the boy as he angrily pounding the mattress. Mary seemed to be ebbing along with the boy's mood, whenever he said something she'd nod and agree and incite his hate further.

"I know! And they just left you here all alone!?" Mary was almost over-the-top with her acting, but it worked, subtlety never worked on children when they were too angry to be fooled.

"Yes, it's all because of that!" he pointed to a piggy bank. Bucky raised a brow as the boy snuggled closer to him, Mary answered with a nod.

"If it were to go away, would it make your parents stay?"

"Yes." The boy answered. It all hung in the balance now. If she moved too quickly and eagerly, she could give the game away, yet if she was too slow the boy might have time to rethink he choices and their game would be over. She seemed to understand this and Mary continued to play the guise of a worried older-sister figure, holding the piggy bank in her hands. "Take it away! I never want to see it again!"

* * *

><p>"Did we <em>just<em>?" Mary was feeling her heart pounding hard in her chest, it certainly wasn't helping wearing such a tight bodice. They had to sneak out through the boy's window as he curled up under his sheets. And like that they'd vanished, like ghosts or memories.

"Yes, which one is it?"

"It'll have to be the necklace, there's no way that they'd have the tools to dismantle an entire circlet. They'd have to take it to a specialist."

"So where would they be?"

"Well, I wouldn't trust the forgers of men-"

"Again,ye olde timey language." She laughed yet felt like there was still _something_ there.

"I'm a nerd, deal with it. Okay, well, I know of specialists- BUCK!" Bucky noticed only too late that the small boy from previously had followed the, blanket trailing behind him. Before he could react, a man stepped from behind a tree, a gun held aloft. The first bullet missed him, she'd pushed him out of the way, in her adrenaline stronger than she usually would. The second bullet missed her by centimetres, still clutching the bank as tight as she could, curled up in a ball on the ground. The man fired another shot and it made impact, yet it had hit neither of them. The small boy, hiding behind some scrub, screamed in pain. Things were a blur from there as he tried to get up from the floor, trying to make his way to the boy. He felt separated from his body, hearing her shout innumerable curses as he attacked her. What felt like hours later, she ran to the boy, looking at him, her curled hair all over the place.

"FUCK! He's got it!" he noticed the piggy-bank missing from her arms as she cradled the small boy. "Go after him. GO!"

Bucky kept running towards the man, avoiding all sources of light, It wasn't that hard to scale the side of the building with all the convenient bannisters and window ledges. Eventually he found himself staring down the man who dared shoot a child, he slowly removed the balaclava, dropping it to the floor.

"One word, and I _swear_-"

"A child. You shot a child." Bucky said slowly, angrily glaring at the man. "It's your son, isn't it."

"Did you take him?"

"No, he was just tired of watching you and your wife travel without him. He was _alone_ and you shot him." Bucky knew he was going to have to negotiate his way out of this. "Right now, my partner's working on saving him but-"

"I… I shot my…" Bucky had the sudden idea to lie his way out of it, however it meant… it meant removing this bastard the guilt of shooting his son.

"It's not your fault… the stone in the circlet was poisoning your mind…" It sounded very legitimate to him, it could work. "We can help…"

"If I give you the stone-"

"I can _promise_ you, we will save him. Get rid of the stone, I _know_ it'll get rid of your guilt." He wasn't like her, he couldn't sense emotions, but he wasn't a heartless person, this man _had_ to be good, even if it was just for his son.

"You'll save-"

"Him, yes, just please give us the stone." He sounded cruel, unsympathetic even, but it needed to be done, and it was worth it, watching him hand over the piggy bank with trembling hands. Bucky didn't need telling twice to exit the room as swiftly as he could, leaving through the window and jumping down from the first-floor balcony.

Running away in the cool night air, he could hear the chaos ensuing inside. They'd stolen the second of the infinity gems and was to be auctioned somewhere else. He thought they'd had it. He thought they'd be able to get them both. He never thought they'd be this naïve and truly believe that. It was all too-familiar, he'd complete a mission but there'd be innocent blood staining his hands. He just hoped she'd be coping.

* * *

><p>I hope you enjoyed that, I swear it's not always going to be this depressing, there'll be fun stuff, like I don't know... convincing Bucky to eat vegemite or something. Please do review and I love hearing back from you all and replying to you all, it's really very awesome. Once again, thanks so much to all of you for reading this, it really motivates me with my writing :)<p> 


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